This card has been bugging me in general for some time, but this particular card still has me stumped.

I get what you are all saying about political factions or big business and can see the elements of that in this card but I'm trying to see it on a more mundane or personal level. Which I do see from the examples of the computer store but I'm still looking for something more personal to connect to.

I want to understand why I feel so "no way out" with this card. I think it is because all the swords are tied up, with this card there seems to be a lack of options or alternatives. I am taking the fact that the swords are all bound by ribbons to mean that none of them are available, perhaps that is incorrect way to look at it. But I still get this feeling that their is nothing that can be done or said to make this situation any better.

Which is when it dawned on me that perhaps you are allowing this "bad" situation to exist by NOT considering alternatives. The tried and true ways, things that you have always done, ways that you have always reacted, are no longer going to work for you. You've tried them, they didn't work and now in some ways you are still involved in this situation but you do need to get out.

It took me a long time but I think I've might have got there do something different, try something else, a new approach to what is perhaps an old problem, the 'shock' factor, doing what people wouldn't expect from you. Is that it? Am I getting it? Please say yes!

It took me a long time but I think I've might have got there do something different, try something else, a new approach to what is perhaps an old problem, the 'shock' factor, doing what people wouldn't expect from you. Is that it? Am I getting it? Please say yes!

Yes! definitely.

shock factor, doing the unexpected....precisely

sorry for the late response, it's hard keeping track of all these threads

HAHA! I felt this way too, when I came back after being gone for a week. I started wondering if I had been gone longer!

This card was/is unclear to me also. The swords seem to be pointing in all different directions, and it feels chaotic and undirected. The 3-2-2 grouping doesn't speak to me either. The book mentions a second possible meaning as theft of ideas or creative energy. Perhaps if I take a later look, something will become apparent. (Unless the card has sucked out all my creative energy )

that's why I suggested you look at the layout of the swords as 2 3 2

I think the physical constraints of the cards dimensions put this image at a disadvantage but still you can get the feeling of divisiveness from the 3/swords which hangs like a threat over the pair of 2's

you can interpret this as I said before as:
X barrier III divide/conquer X barrier

For a while, this card also bugged me. I usually need pictures and scenes to use intuition but I guess I kinda get it now. This card is about strategy, trying and doing whatever it takes to get where you want to go. The two sets of swords show that the person tried the same or similar approach twice but to no avail (the ribbons tie the swords and are dropping). Then, this guy tried a different approach (the position of the swords changed) and it seems like things are just about working. The swords, although pointing up. are tied. But the ribbons , this time are pointing down and up (left and right) so if this card were used as advice, I would tell the querent that he/she would be sjust a step from accomplishing his goal.

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